Pierre Valade

Pierre Valade is a French serial entrepreneur best known for co-founding Sunrise, the beloved calendar app he launched in 2012 with Belgian designer Jérémy Le Van after the two met while Valade was working as a UX designer at Foursquare. Sunrise grew to millions of users and was acquired by Microsoft in February 2015 for a reported ~$100 million, after which Valade spent time at Microsoft (including a design/director role) integrating Sunrise's technology into Outlook. He trained as an engineer at France's École nationale des ponts et chaussées (Ponts et Chaussées) and took part in a design and innovation program associated with Stanford University; MIT Technology Review named him to its "Innovators Under 35" list. Before Sunrise he was involved in earlier ventures including the civic-tech project Voxe.org (co-founder) and earlier experiments such as Alittlewink.

In 2018–2019 he founded Jumbo Privacy, a consumer app that scans the apps and websites people use and offers actionable steps to improve online privacy and security. Jumbo raised backing from Balderton Capital (an $8M Series A in 2020 accompanying the launch of "Jumbo 2.0"), positioning itself as a privacy assistant built for everyday consumers. Valade has framed privacy as "the issue of our decade," a theme he has explored in interviews and French-language podcasts.

Most recently, Valade has pivoted into AI infrastructure. In April 2025 he publicly launched WorkflowAI, an open-source platform (operated under the company "Ping") for building AI features — giving developers access to many top AI models in one place, side-by-side model comparison, and no-code prompt updates, billed at pass-through per-token pricing with no per-seat fees. His LinkedIn now lists him as CEO at Ping. He is based in Brooklyn and remains an active angel investor alongside operating his companies.

• Invests at seed and Series A, writing small angel checks (roughly $5K–$50K, typically ~$25K).
• Backs software and product-led startups, with concentration in enterprise/productivity tools, fintech, AI, and consumer applications.
• Strong France/Europe + US corridor: many portfolio companies are French-founded or scaling between Paris, London and New York.
• Operator-investor profile: as a two-time founder (one acquired by Microsoft), he tends to back product- and design-driven founders building tools he understands firsthand.
• Frequently co-invests alongside prominent operators and funds — reported syndicate partners include Stewart Butterfield, Xavier Niel, Marc Simoncini and Tim Draper.